Thank God it's Friday, folks, which means it's time for another edition of the only gaming mailbag you care about: Burning Questions. I'm the guy with a permanent case of the Mondays, Alex Navarro. I'd try to write a cleverer intro, but my heart's just not in it. I tapped out on clever when I was writing everything in this week's column. EA! Resident Evil 5! PSP memory add-ons! Rollerball! Space World! Confusing questions about the 360! Even more-confusing answers to everything! That's what you'll find in the bag this week. Read it or I'll be a sad panda.

EA Rockefeller

I'm kind of worried when it comes to Electronic Arts. It seems to me they are trying to become the "Donald Trump" or "Rockefeller" of the gaming industry. I don't have anything against the games they make, as most are above-average-quality games. But with their acquisition of the NFL license, it makes me think what's next. Not to mention they are already a pretty large organization, too. What do you think?

Eric S.
Orlando, Florida

Someone wrote something in our forums this week that actually summed it up pretty well. EA is going out of its way to become extremely necessary to this industry's survival. It doesn't want to just be a big part of it, it wants to be an integral, completely monolithic aspect of it. It buys up something like the NFL license so that people have to come to it to get the product. It's the kind of business model Microsoft has subscribed to for years.

Like it or not, EA's the biggest thing this industry has--at least as far as companies that don't make consoles are concerned. If you were to just slice EA out of the equation, there goes a whole ass-load of game industry monies. Nobody in the industry wants that.

But it's also like you said. Most of the games it makes are pretty good, if not great. It has a better track record than some major publishers, anyway. So even if it doesn't always make the most standout games, it rarely puts out complete crap. I suppose that's about as much of a compliment as you can give any company these days. -- A.N.

RE on the Rev

No RE5 for the Revolution!!!???

What does that mean for you? Miyamoto said that they were trying to be more appealing, but it turns out that RE5 will be released on the Xbox 360 and PS3.

That means the Revolution is not appealing to big producers.

I also thought that maybe they haven't announced the game for the Revolution since they don't even have the developers kit, so they haven't started doing it.

What do you think?

Marco Rojas
Caracas, Venezuela

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Nice shootin', Tex! Hold up there a minute. Yeah, it announced RE5 for the 360 and PS3 and not for the Revolution, but did it occur to you yet that maybe that's because nobody's announced any Revolution games? Give it some time, man. -- A.N.

Adult Swim

My immediate thought about the rerating of GTA is the role of the media in the industry.

I did a search of AO games at GameSpot, and the only (relevant) result I have is GTA. I just wonder
a) what is GameSpot's policy toward reviewing AO games?
b) is the game-development industry aware of such policy?

The AO rating is the "kiss of death" to game developers because such rating greatly limits the sale of games. In a broad sense, this is a form of "financial sanction" against the development of games that some people perceive as "non-ethical." In this capitalistic society, I would look at these types of financial sanctions as a form of censorship.

I think the media has certain responsibilities here. If the media can give equal treatment to AO and non-AO games, the readers will at least be able to read about them. This will somehow maintain a demand for products that are creative but are AO-rated. I believe that the demand is always going to be there. It is just a matter of letting the game developers know such that they can find out the "financial safety net" before deciding to proceed with a project or not.

GameSpot, with its popularity rating feature, could be one of the measuring sticks. I believe that "a proper reflection of the state of the society" is one responsibility of the media. More is going to happen regarding this AO-rating stuff, so I hope that GameSpot can maintain its excellent job even for AO-rated games. If the TV can show beer commercials and museum art pieces can show gentitals, the game industry should be able to develop AO-rated games without financial sanction.

B.L.
Vancouver, British Columbia

Both the long and short answers to your main question are: Our policy toward AO games is pretty much the same as with any other games. We cover retail products, regardless of rating. The thing is, there just haven't been very many AO games at all over the years--practically none, in fact, until now. If more games start getting the AO treatment, we won't treat them any differently. So long as they aren't like creepy hentai games or something. That would just be...unpleasant. -- A.N.

The King of All Cosmos in the Palm of Your Hand

I was desperately seeking some software for my poor PSP, and looking around various sites stumbled upon a listing for "Katamari Damacy PSP" on Wal-Mart's website. (here: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=3916114) I was wondering if anything was known about this title and if it, in fact, exists. Also, it has a release date listed of 10/3/05, which seems pretty soon for something I've heard nothing about. It would be great if it weren't only DS owners that got some portable Katamari rollin'. Any help clarifying would be much appreciated.

Sorry if this is more "Rumor Control" material. I didn't really know who to go to.

Pat Polk (initials: PSP) (yes: I'm lame)
Lil' Midwestern Town

On the matter of your lameness, just remember: You said it. I didn't.

Before our resident rumor monger, Tor Thorsen, went on his lovely South American vacation, I sent him this, and he sent a note to Namco asking what was up. To my knowledge, we never got a response on it. It's very interesting that this listing appears at Wal-Mart, of all places, and nowhere else.

So, forgive me as I play Rumor Control here for a moment.

Bogus or Not Bogus?: The listing may prove to be bogus, but as to whether Namco will ever bring its psychedelically delightful ball-rolling puzzler to the PSP, that seems like an inevitability rather than a possibility. Not bogus. -- A.N.

Sticking With the PSP Theme...

I love gadgets. The day the PSP came out, I ran right out to my local Best Buy and spent a pile of money, that probably should have gone elsewhere, on that glorious little piece of tech. So far, it has exceeded my expectations. Imagine my delight when I read right here on GameSpot that there was a new firmware update available (though intended for Japanese units only) that worked fine on North American units.

After installing the Asian language pack in my PC and doing a little Babel fish translation of the Japanese PSP support page, I managed to install the update in my PSP. Once I got it installed, things were going just fine. The controls, while a little odd at first, do a decent job of navigating the Web.

The problem, and cause of my questions, is the limited memory that the PSP has. Quite frequently, while browsing graphics-intensive pages, I'm presented with an insufficient memory error. I've adjusted the browser cache to the maximum allowed and still have this problem.

And now, to the questions... We've all seen the concept keyboards for the PSP, but does Sony have any plans to release RAM expansions to help with browsing the big pages? I'm presently using the Memory Stick that came with the value pack (32MB), though I imagine browsing is handled by the PSP's onboard RAM. Could Sony possibly enable a virtual memory system in a future patch that could use free space on our Memory Sticks? The browsing is cool but needs improvement. I like that I can use my PSP to check GameSpot from the comfort of my couch if I need some tips on the game I'm playing on my TV.

Jason Tremblay
Reading, Pennsylvania

Ain't no party like a Sarju Shah party, 'cause a Sarju Shah party don't quit!

"Apparently this is a problem at the moment. The out of memory error appears after browsing for a little while. A little workaround at the moment is to clear the cache, disable it, close the browser and restart the PSP. By disabling the cache none of the pages are saved, so each one is reloaded every single time. This should stop the error messages from appearing, hopefully. Expect some sort of patch from Sony, is my guess." -- S.S.

World 'o Space

Hi Alex. I love your Burning Questions feature. My question is, do you know if Nintendo is planning to hold a Space World this year? Would you put it in the news section if you guys got an invitation? Thanks!

Gregg
New York

There were a lot of rumors about this floating around for a while, but nothing definitive. If there was to be a year where Nintendo brought back Space World, this would certainly be the one. The timing would be perfect, since it's usually held around the exact same time that Nintendo's been talking about showing off more of the Revolution. Unfortunately, we just can't say for certain. I think that we haven't heard anything definitive yet probably isn't a good sign. -- A.N.

A Snowball's Chance in Hell?

I've heard mixed reports about Shadow Hearts: Covenant selling/not selling well in the US since it was released last year.

With the latest Shadow Hearts installment (Shadow Hearts: From the New World) coming out in Japan on July 28, what are the chances it's going to be brought over to North America?

Leonia
Los Angeles

Even if Midway (which published the last game) opts to take a pass on it this time, I have to imagine somebody will pick it up. There are plenty of RPG-focused publishers out there that clearly seem to care more about bringing these games out to US fans than turning any kind of serious profit. So, on a scale of f***** to excellent, I'd say it has a "good" shot at making it out here. -- A.N.

Finally, a Hockey Question

With Gary Bettman's announcement and introduction of the NHL's 2006 season, along with new rules and a salary cap, some questions have risen. Will either EA's or 2K's installment include the new rules and salary cap? Also, will either game include Sydney Crosby?

Nick
Canada

It sounds like on the NHL 06 front, all the rule changes are making it into the game, but the salary cap won't, since the dynasty mode has been pretty much finished for a good long while now. I'm not completely sure what NHL 2K6 will have in that regard, but my guess is something along the same lines: all the rule changes and probably not a salary cap. The thing about Sydney Crosby is that legally they can't put a rookie in the game until he's played one NHL game. After that, it's hello roster update.

If you want to know more about the struggles of hockey games this season, you ought to check out this edition of Spot On our own Brendan Sinclair just put together. -- A.N.

Namco's 360 Master Plan

I'll make this short and sweet. Considering the big news out of the Xbox Japan Summit that Namco is making Ridge Racer 6 for the Xbox 360 and not the PS3, I wonder what this signals for their direction. I wonder what would happen if RR6 does well. Could this mean that the 360 might get other bread-and-butter Namco franchises? Seeing Tekken, Soul Calibur, Xenosaga, and Ace Combat on the 360 is like a dream to me. I just hope that RR6 isn't a one-shot deal and the 360 isn't doomed to see Namco Museum and Gumby titles, as the PS3 gets Soul Calibur and Tekken.

Alex Nigro
Florida, USA

See, this is what happens when the mailbag gets backlogged. How long ago was this 360 Summit? Sheesh.

It's interesting the way Japanese publishers are starting to branch out a bit more, what with Squeenix talking about going multiplatform and now this Namco business on the 360. What's even stranger is all this talk amid all the exclamations from polls that show the 360's interest level in Japan being close to the bottom of the figurative barrel. Then again, the North American market is a beast, and even if the system doesn't make much of a splash in Japan, the North American sales ought to at least make up for it, if not more.

As for the specific question regarding Ridge Racer 6, I honestly think this and stuff like Frame City Killer is a test. Namco is feeling out how its games will do on the 360 alone, and if the result is positive, you'll probably see a few more exclusives out of the company. One way or another, I'd expect to see a lot more multiplatform stuff between the 360 and the PS3 from Namco. As for exclusives, well, I don't imagine Namco will just ignore the PS3, so it'll probably be a lot of back and forth, provided the 360 experiment goes well. -- A.N.

Jumping Ship

As usual, when you have a console due to ship months ahead of its competition, it really brings a couple of questions to mind. I'm an avid gamer and supporter of the Sony PlayStation, since the first console. I think its game base on both systems has been fantastic, Metal Gear and Castlevania being my favorites.

As such, I was avidly against going Xbox. However, with news of the 360 coming in the fall, and an impressive-looking game base, this is the first time I'm actually considering purchasing both systems. I figure I can't be the only hardcore "PS-er" making this move.

Do you think, since the Xbox 360 has such a jump as far as release date, that more gamers will be making this choice, as it gives them time to save and buy the PS3 when it releases next year?

Al Kaspar
Somewhere in the Boonies, Pennsylvania, USA

Normally I'd pretend to have a clear grasp of exactly what you're saying and then churn out something appropriately glib. But, Al, you done made me go cross-eyed.

Alright, let me see if I've got this. You're a longtime Sony fan who's considering going with the 360 because the games intrigue you. OK, fair enough. Now you're asking me if I think other Sony fans will make a similar leap of faith because the 360 is coming out first, which will give people time to save for the PS3? What?

Let's just ignore the reasoning you've put forth for the moment and simply answer the question of whether or not people are going to jump on the 360 because it's coming out first. Yeah, some undoubtedly will. I think it's more often just going to be because it's new technology and not because of the launch lineup. But some, such as yourself, will obviously go for the games. I'm not seeing any mass Sony defection just because the 360's coming out first, however. That's crazy talk. You're not crazy, are you Al? -- A.N.

The Blind Reading the Blind

Hello, as the subject says, you are not providing to my needs. the other day when i was literally given a minute to choose whether i wanted a game or not, i searched GameSpot for it. i found the game easily and looked at its main page, but nowhere i could find the live options it had, and i was left wondering "does this game support co-op on live? can you play split-screen on live?" your shortcomings really annoyed me, as i find live play the most important thing, seeing as i live on my own, with no parter. I suggest you have a link to a page that displays all the live options. I doubt you will answer to this email, so i want you to know if you don't change your ways soon i'm going to build up a mob and go straight to GameSpot hq with burning toilet rolls on sticks to sort out this problem.

Andy Edmonds
United Kingdom

This isn't any of that dry British wit I keep hearing about, is it? Sigh... Here, check this. All our gamespaces have these, man. Seems like it's just what you're looking for.

Come on, people! Get it together! This is the second bad one in a row now. -- A.N.

Oh, I Give Up...

Jeff Gerstmann vs. The World. Who would win, and please--for the love of all things holy--be specific.

Alex
Fresno, California

Well, let's look at the tale of the tape.

Jeff: 6'3", 220lbs.
Hometown: Petaluma, California
Age: 30
Styles: Jujitsu, Wrestling, Wu-Tang Shadowboxing
Reach: 77"

Versus...

The World: 24,900 miles, 5.972 sextillion metric tons
Hometown: Cherry Hill, New Jersey
Age: Either 3,000 or 4,570,000,000 years old, depending on who you ask.
Styles: Capoeira, Mongolian Wrestling, Egyptian Stick Fencing
Reach: 79"

So, while you can see that The World has the clear weight and height advantages, as well as a slight reach advantage, Gerstmann's relative youth and expertise in Wu-Tang make him a formidable foe. I give this one to Jeffy G.

There! Specific enough for you? What the f*** is wrong with me? Why am I answering this crap? Someone get me a bourbon. -- A.N.

That's it. I'm done. No more. You people are all insane. All of you. I don't even know if I want you to write me more questions using the form below (registered members only, of course). Oh, who am I kidding? Of course I want you to keep sending me your insanity. Just try to make it more definitively insane so I can do another Nutjob. It's been too long since I actually got one of those that wasn't someone desperately trying to be funny but failing miserably. I want legitimate crazy, people! Anyway, again, I've been Alex Navarro, and hopefully this is a step in the right direction toward getting the game industry off everybody's blame list.

Burning Questions Archive